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Don’t Miss Elin Hilderbrand’s Newest 5-star Release! Coming 10/9/18

Irene was happy with her life as a wife, mother, and magazine editor until an email, detailing her demotion came to her attention, as well as a distressing phone call, informing Irene of her husband’s death. Irene had always been secure in her marriage. She never worried about her husband having affairs, even though he traveled a great deal. Her husband doted on her and showered her with attention whenever he was home. Perhaps, she should have been more concerned, because when he died in a helicopter crash, his mistress, a woman from St. Johns, USVI, perished along with him.

Irene wasn’t exactly excited to be taking a trip to the Virgin Islands, but her husband’s hidden life had her wanting answers. Irene’s grief and disbelief turned quickly to anger when she discovered the magnitude of her doting husband’s deceit. Irene’s sons, Baker and Cash Steele flew to the Virgin Islands, not only to support their mother but to do a little investigating themselves. The two brothers had never been close, but increasing competition and anger skyrocketed, when the two of them fell for the same Island girl, crushing any brotherly relationship they had.

Winter In Paradise is a compelling and well-crafted novel. The author drew me into the story right from the start. The characters are fascinating, the dialogue realistic and the story captivating. It does end with a cliff-hanger, however, so be warned. I plan on reading book two in the series. I’ve read several of Elin Hilderbrand’s books and have never been disappointed; Winter In Paradise is no exception.

Elin Hilderbrand first discovered the magic of Nantucket in July 1993. Her recipe for a happy island life includes running, writing at the beach, picnics at Eel Point with her three children, and singing “Home, Sweet Home” at the Club Car piano bar. Here’s to Us is her seventeenth novel.

Saving Beckis a haunting, touching, and heart-wrenching story about a teenage boy’s downward spiral into the hellish world of addiction; and his grieving mother’s inability to help him.

Beck was a star football player, from a loving family, who was brought up to say, no to drugs. Yet, when tragedy struck his family, Beck couldn’t resist the seduction of escape. He wanted freedom from the agonizing pain, guilt and endless responsibilities that he’d been shouldering. But the more Beck relied on drugs, the worse his life became. When the relentless and unforgiving claws of addiction dug into Beck, he was powerless to fight back.

Natalie blames herself for her son’s Heroin addiction. After losing her husband, Natalie spent most of her time in a Xanax haze, lying in a darkened room. She knew that having her eldest son, Beck, care for his siblings, day in and day out, was unfair to him; Natalie just couldn’t get herself together enough to change that. Although people told Natalie that her son’s addiction was not her fault, she couldn’t help but think that it was. If only she’d paid closer attention to, the tale-tail signs, that were right in front of her.But, what she didn’t realize was, that Beck had his own demons he was dealing with. Things that Natalie knew nothing about.

This is a heart-breaking story of a Heroin addict. His pain, his existence, and what he had to do to survive. I read the book in a day because I was too emotionally involved to put it down. It touched my soul. The book is told from two points of view, Beck’s and Natalie’s. Saving Beck is a raw, engrossing, heartwarming, and emotionally draining novel.This is the first book that I’ve read by this talented author, but it won’t be my last.

Courtney Cole is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling novelist who would rather write than eat chocolate. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business, but no amount of working in the corporate world could quell her urge to write.

Courtney was born and raised in Kansas, home of incredibly friendly people and the most horrendous weather on the planet. Because summer days were so hot, she grew up reading stacks of books… and when she didn’t like the ending, she wrote her own.

Courtney has relocated to Florida where she writes beneath palm trees. To learn more about her, please visit her website, http://www.courtneycolewrites.com To sign up for her newsletter and receive exclusive sneak peeks and super-fan perks, go here:

I’m So Happy To Be Part of Stacy Juba’s Blog Tour

Fooling Around With Sleeping Beauty

Releases Today!

Do you love sweet romance novels that make you laugh? Then you’ll want to check out Stacy Juba’s brand new chick lit novel, Prancing Around With Sleeping Beauty, the second book in the Storybook Valley series. The book was released March 5, and while it’s a follow-up to the popular Fooling Around With Cinderella, both novels can also be read as stand-alones. Come discover Storybook Valley, a fictional theme park in the Catskills of New York. If you love small town romance with humorous characters, theme parks, fairy tale fun, and amazing love stories, then Storybook Valley will be your new favorite series.

This Sleeping Beauty isn’t sure she wants to wake up…

Dance instructor Rory Callahan likes to play it safe. When she meets Kyle, he’s impulsive, persistent, and her exact opposite. He’s pushing her to tango way past her comfort zone and keeping Rory on her toes more than twenty years of dance teachers ever had.

Unfortunately, he’s the grandson of her family’s archrival and she doesn’t want to disappoint them. After all, her parents imagine her as a proper princess – hence her namesake Aurora, AKA Sleeping Beauty. Complicating matters, Rory’s also dealing with a surgeon boyfriend who’s perfect for her (sort of), an obnoxious boss, and desperate dance moms. Kyle wants to change her whole life, but Rory doesn’t like the stakes. After all, princesses are the ones who get the happy endings. . .aren’t they?

My Review:

Prancing Around With Sleeping Beauty is the second novel in the Storybook Valley Series. I enjoyed book one, Fooling Around With Cinderella, so I couldn’t wait to read its sequel. Just as I knew it would be, Prancing Around With Sleeping Beauty was just as good as the first book. It’s well crafted with rich details, witty dialogue, and a captivating plot.

Rory Callahan has been teaching dance for years. Although it was comforting to know that she was a valued employee, her dream has always been, to open her own dance studio. But before that could happen, major decisions would have to be made. All of them, unfortunately, will shake up not only her world but many others as well.

Kyle Thorne has become a significant distraction for Rory. He was all, she could think about. The main problem with Rory’s preoccupation was, that she already had a steady boyfriend. She has known Brad for years. Rory was supposed to marry him. And why wouldn’t she want to? He was well-liked, good-looking, easy to be with, and a doctor. But that was just it, Rory was comfortable with Brad, but not happy or passionate. Kyle, on-the-other-hand, was spontaneous, funny, hot, and forbidden. Kyle, was also; unfortunately, the grandson of her grandfather’s greatest rival.

Rory will have to decide whether keeping the peace with those around her is worth giving up her own joy and sense of adventure. Rory has always played the peacemaker in the family, but, isn’t time for her to let go of that responsibility? Does Rory dare to risk giving up a steady job, and a boyfriend she has had for years, just for a chance at true happiness and love?

Prancing Around with Sleeping Beauty is a sweet, light, and funny romance. I loved it.

Twilight had descended over the strip mall which also contained a pizza place, children’s art studio, New Age shop, bakery, and a consignment store with identical brick facades. A long sidewalk connected the storefronts. Rory’s phone chirped and she scanned a text as she strolled through the parking lot. A message from her older brother Jake, who lived in Maine.

Happy 25th. What new rose crap did you get this year?

Instead of making her chuckle, his joke elicited a sigh. She missed Jake and his toddler Quinn, but he never came home anymore thanks to a stupid fight with their parents. They went ballistic after he got a girl pregnant and accused him of ruining his life. Jake and the mother broke up, not surprising since she was a total flake, but he got an apartment a couple blocks away from her to be near his daughter. His absence meant he couldn’t take over the theme park, leaving room for Dylan to step forward.

Heading toward her car, she replied: Don’t know yet. I’m on my—

Augh! Rory stumbled over something and toppled to the ground, her phone sailing through the air. Her right hand slammed against the pavement, and pain seared through her. Sitting up, she glared at the object that had blocked her path. A spiky creature in a plastic carrier glared back at her.

Rory blinked. She could accept a black cat crossing her path, but she owed her unceremonious spill to a needle-infested rodent?

“Who leaves a porcupine in the middle of the parking lot?” she demanded.

“Who trips over a huge animal carrier? Oh, right, someone who’s texting while walking.” A brown-haired guy in a khaki zookeeper uniform and boots loomed over her. She stiffened at his words until she noticed the dimples sprinkled with cinnamon freckles. He wasn’t mad, just amused. “And it’s not a porcupine. It’s a hedgehog.”

“What’s the difference? It was still in the middle of the parking lot.”

He crouched beside her. “For starters, hedgehogs have shorter quills that can’t easily come off their bodies, while a porcupine’s quills can easily detach themselves. On average a hedgehog has 7,000 quills while a porcupine has approximately 30,000. And a porcupine can grow to triple the size, between 25-and-36 inches.”

“It was a rhetorical question.” Rory risked a glance at her throbbing hand and winced. Blood dripped down her finger.

“I’ll admit that you’re worse off than Turbo. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll get the first aid kit.”

Mr. Porcupine Expert disappeared into a green van so garish, it almost distracted Rory from her pain. Painted animal heads peered out of big circles and orange letters proclaimed the monstrosity a Zoo Mobile—with paw prints forming the double ‘o’ in zoo. It wouldn’t surprise Rory if a white rabbit in a waistcoat popped out from the Day-Glo monstrosity, muttering about being late . . . for a tea party at her house using Wendy’s bumpy placemats. She groaned, deciphering the smaller words beneath the paw prints. ‘Duke’s Animal World.’

She’d always considered her family’s rivalry with Duke Thorne a bit ridiculous, but now Rory related to her granddad’s agitation. Thanks to sprawling over one of Duke’s stupid hedgehogs, she might have sprained her finger.

Shifting position, Rory glowered through the cage at the spiky black ball that had caused all the trouble. It huffed and puffed, quills poking outward, a breathing pincushion. My . . . she hadn’t realized hedgehogs had such tiny eyes. And what a cute button nose. This little guy—Turbo?—seemed skittish.

“Hey, there, Turbo,” she murmured. “Guess it was my fault, too. Did I scare you?”

“He’ll be okay.” The dimpled zookeeper reappeared with her cell phone, along with a toolbox-sized red first aid kit. He unlatched the kit, opened a box of gauze pads, and bent beside her. “Let’s apply pressure to stop the bleeding.”

“I can do it.” Rory squashed the pad against the cut, her cheeks heating, whether from his boyish good looks, or the mortification of falling over a hedgehog, she didn’t know. She hoped he couldn’t detect her blush under the lampposts’ dim glow. She rested her wrist on her knee. “What are you and Turbo doing here, anyway?”

“The art studio had a zoo night. The kids decorated animal statues and then I did a presentation. I was just about to load my last animal, Turbo, into the van when you went flying.” He jerked his thumb toward the Zoo Mobile. “I’ve also got a red-eyed tree frog, bearded dragon, chinchilla, and domestic rabbit.”

“I’m an instructor at the dance studio. We were having an open house. I got a text, and apparently, I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Rory battled the temptation to peek under the gauze.

“Let me get this straight. You’re a dancer? I thought dancers were graceful.” His brown eyes crinkled with amusement. Their shade reminded her of a caramel latte, warm and inviting.

“I am graceful! This was an isolated incident.”

“Uh-huh. I’m Kyle, by the way. And you’re . . .?”

“Rory.”

“How about I make it up to you with free zoo tickets? You can come meet Turbo’s parents. I’m sure they’ll forgive you if I explain that you’re a dancer with two left feet.”

He wore such a deadpan expression that Rory almost laughed. His dry comic delivery must enliven his presentations. Her grandmother Lois, Storybook Valley’s self-appointed entertainment director, would remark that Kyle had charisma.

Rory might enjoy touring the zoo with him, but her granddad would lock her in with the lions if she ventured onto his rival’s property. Growing up, she had never been allowed to visit Duke’s. “Thanks, but that’s okay. As I was telling Turbo here, it was my fault. I should have been more aware of my surroundings.”

She peered into the cage. Was it her imagination, or did Turbo look calmer now in Kyle’s presence? His quills had relaxed, laying down and pointing toward the back.

Kyle picked up the animal carrier and straightened to his full height. “How about I show you my passengers while you’re applying pressure? The least I can do is keep you entertained during your misery.”

After a hesitation, Rory climbed to her feet and trailed him to the Zoo Mobile. With her left hand, she finished a clumsily misspelled text to Jake, omitting mention of the accident. Otherwise, her brothers would ask her for the next month if she had tripped over any hedgehogs lately.

She leaned against the van as Kyle slid the bearded dragon’s carrier out the side door and positioned Turbo’s cage in its place. Over the next ten minutes, he explained how many bearded dragon species existed (nine) and what they ate (insects). If Rory ever appeared on a TV game show, she hoped they quizzed her on bearded dragons, porcupines, and hedgehogs.

Kyle discussed animals the same way Brad talked about robotic-assisted surgery. She wondered if Kyle had a college degree. Her guess was no. After all, how much schooling did it take to drive a Zoo Mobile? Once you memorized the spiel and learned how to care for the animals, what else was there to learn? As an employee that far down the company ladder, Kyle probably wasn’t aware of the Callahan feud.

After the bearded dragon lecture, Rory washed her cut and rubbed in bacitracin ointment. Kyle unwrapped a large Band-Aid, but instead of extending it to her, he pressed the patch over her skin. As their fingers touched, a shivery sensation whispered down Rory’s spine.

Ever wondered what those cheerful theme park princesses are really thinking? When twenty-five-year-old Jaine Andersen proposes a new marketing role to the local amusement park, general manager Dylan Callahan charms her into filling Cinderella’s glass slippers for the summer. Her reign transforms Jaine’s ordinary life into chaos that would bewilder a fairy godmother. Secretly dating her bad boy boss, running wedding errands for her ungrateful sisters, and defending herself from the park’s resident villain means Jaine needs lots more than a comfy pair of shoes to restore order in her kingdom…

And if you discover that you love the Storybook Valley books, be sure to join Stacy’s street team, the Storybook Valley Sweethearts, on Facebook for book launch activities and exclusive sneak peeks. Members will get to hear the latest Storybook Valley news before anyone else, and even read excerpts of works-in-progress and give input on cover design.

After The Lie is a compelling, cleverly written and engrossing story. Kerry Fisher crafts her emotionally charged, and thought-provoking novel with imperfect characters, witty dialogue, and oodles of British humor.

Forty-three-year-old Lydia Rushford’s life was out of control. She had become a madwoman, a person she hardly recognized. One of her secrets, a shameful one, which took place when she was thirteen-years-old and known as Sally Southport, was on the verge of being exposed.

For thirty years, Lydia had guarded her words. The only life she ever spoke of, was a fabricated one; not even her trustworthy, kindhearted husband, Mark, a man who would have won, husband of the year award, knew who she was. But, Lydia’s semi-comfortable life was about to crumble. Sean McAllister, the only man who knew of her secret, had shown up in her life. To Lydia’s horror, Sean and her husband Mark had become close friends. In desperation, Lydia confessed her secret to a male stranger, who ended up complicating her life, more than she could have ever imagined.

Unfortunately, history has a way of repeating itself; and lies, whether half-truths or omissions have a way of coming to the surface and spreading their poison.

I enjoyed reading this thoughtful and highly entertaining novel.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Things Fall Apart is an emotionally charged, well-written novel about a single mother’s struggle to save her children from the venomous claws of addiction. The story takes place in the 1980’s, during a time when treatment for drug addiction was less than ideal.

Desperate and at her wits-end, thirty-five-year-old single parent, Mandy, and her well-intentioned neighbor, Maureen, decide to take matters into their own hands. However, they chose a method of treatment that was shocking for even the 1980’s. In this day in age, such an intense measure would never even be considered, because of the serious potential for violence and severe injury to anyone nearby, including family members.

Drug addiction touches just about every family in one way or another. Unfortunately, for some, addiction stabs at the family’s very core, making it a hellish existence for everyone in that circle.

What I liked most about this book, was that it illustrated, just how fast drugs can devastate a family and what exactly a parent should look for. Recognizing the early signs of substance abuse or experimentation of them, is paramount. Once addiction has taken hold of a person, treatment is usually only successful after the addict has hit their bottom.

Parents who have children trapped in the world of drugs will be able to identify with Mandy’s feeling of helplessness and remorse. The truth of the matter is, addiction is a cunning and insidious disease, and one that parents, especially those who are not street-wise, never see coming. If you know of a parent who is suffering, support them. Al-anon is their best help and tough love, unfortunately, their only answer.

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I’m a blogger, book reviewer, and the author of Discover New Authors & Great Reads. I also write short stories, flash fiction, and drabbles. My work has been published in several e-zines, as well as in the anthology, Lessons From My Parents by Michele Robbins.
I’m a voracious reader and enjoy writing book reviews and sharing them. I have three beautiful children, a daughter, and two sons. My favorite pastimes include reading, writing, and traveling the country with my husband.
My quotes:
"Whatever the Question...Kindness is the Answer."